


To Become a Padawan

by wolfiefics



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Gen, Star Wars from when Yoda was an apprentice to Luke, each character becomes an apprentice, extra characters mentioned from Jedi Apprentice series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-23
Updated: 2019-10-23
Packaged: 2020-12-31 16:01:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21148391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wolfiefics/pseuds/wolfiefics
Summary: From Yoda to Luke Skywalker, becoming an Padawan Learner.





	To Become a Padawan

**Author's Note:**

> Written somewhere between 2002-2004, possibly before that. The poem is mine as well. Not half bad, if you ask me. I suck at poetry, to be honest.

__

_Master, Master, strong and true,_  
Coming to me out of the blue.  
Asking for me to join your crusade,  
Defeating the darkness with a swing of your blade. 

_Honored I am to walk at your side,_  
Honored I am to hear and abide,  
Honored I am, my Master, to see,  
Honored I am your padawan to be. 

-A Padawan's Prayer-

Yoda stood by his bunk, staring out the tiny window at the glistening moonlight cascading onto the streams of speeder traffic. He felt dwarfed by the huge sky barely glittering faraway stars through the bright night lights of Coruscant. He also felt at peace, somehow, and reveled in the thought that he had been chosen to be a knight of the Republic.  
Well, a padawan learner anyway.

This was his last night in his personal quarters. Starting tomorrow he would live with his master and learn the ways of the Jedi. He was excited, exhilarated and frightened at the same time. No, not frightened, not really. More like awed. He was small, awkward and not very agile, but his master had sensed in him what Yoda knew he had all along: a strong sense of the Force and it's mysterious ways.

"You will be a great Jedi, little Yoda," his new master told him when he requested the honor of training Yoda. "I wish to have a hand in the making of such a strong knight to our Order. Will you do me the honor of being my student, my padawan learner, Yoda?"

The knight had actually bowed to him! Him! Little Yoda of a planet no one could even pronounce! A great knight, who went forth to fight the dark side all the time, had requested an oddball tagalong, saying he would be honored. Yoda remembered being beside himself with giddiness.

'Still giddy I am,' he noted to himself excitedly.

"Honored it is I, great Jedi," Yoda had responded to the knight's request. "Not best choice am I for active knight like yourself. Awkward I am, small I am, silly to behold I am."

The knight had raised his hand to cut off Yoda's beginning list of faults. "You are who you are, Yoda. Nothing can change that. The Force saw a creature of worth when they created your species. Do not judge yourself by those around you, judge yourself by what you see inside." The knight had smiled warmly. "Do you see yourself unworthy because you are small and awkward in your movements?"

"Sometimes," Yoda recalled admitting with a frown. "Hard it is to compete with those taller than myself. Stronger they sometimes are. Impossible to defeat it seems."

"Remember your focus determines your reality, little Yoda. And your size gives you an advantage. Let the enemy make a judgement of you and then use that judgement they have made against them. Surprise them. I've seen you wield that little saber of yours. You are very good, but play it down, as it is not your strength."

"Size matters not," Yoda now murmured to himself. "Judge me by my size, do they? Very well, then, see they shall just how powerful size can be!"

Several floors above a Jedi knight sensed the determined will of the student he had requested the honor of training. 'He is small, but tenacious. Wisdom is his already; it only needs honing to sharpen it enough to be of great use. If I show him the diversity and usefulness of wisdom, it will be the greatest advantage he will have. Yes, size matters not. Let the enemy judge you for what they see, my padawan, for that will be your greatest strength."

* * *

Qui-Gon Jinn bowed low to the assembly. He'd fought well, being one of the better student saber wielders in the student population, and he was just sure he'd impressed the master enough. He had to have. His heart cried out to be a knight, a master, and he knew it would happen.

His opponent grinned ruefully as he patted Qui-Gon on the back. "I want you teach me how you do that, Qui-Gon," Mace Windu said as he too bowed to the assembly.

They looked up at the few Council members standing with the knight the two students had been fighting for. "After I get taken as a padawan learner," Qui-Gon muttered out of the side of his mouth.

"I have no doubt he will take you. I bit the tiles badly." Mace seemed unconcerned about his failure, which surprised Qui-Gon immensely. He turned to his friend as the two departed for the 'fresher room.

"Why do you say that?" Qui-Gon asked.

Mace shrugged. "I'm good, though not as good as you. Maybe wielding a saber and scaring space pirates isn't what the Force wants me to do. I like the debating and administration classes and government fascinates me. Maybe I should become a negotiator instead."

"Wise words, Initiate Windu." Both boys turned in synch at the voice of the knight they had been battling for. "I'm impressed by your thoughtfulness as much as I am impressed by your friend's lightsaber skills."

The two teenagers looked at each other nervously, seeing each other for the first time as the rivals they were. This was the point in which one of their lives would change.

But which one?

"You are correct when you say lightsaber is not your strongest suit, Mace Windu. You are still very, very good, but it is not your strength. I have reviewed your records and your academics impress me greatly. I am a scholar myself and find comfort in the fact that one so young can be as well."

The knight turned to Qui-Gon. "Lightsaber is what you exceed at. You have a strength there, an uncanny ability to sense your enemy that is astounding. You seem to sense when danger is near to hand. With proper honing, it will be very handy in many situations. Your diplomatic skills, I understand, are also impressive. You're a mediator and peacekeeper to the central of your being. A most useful knight skill. Though your academics are not so strong, you are indeed a brilliant student."

Both boys stared at the tall figure before them. "My decision was difficult. I knew it would be the moment the two of you stepped into the arena." The knight gave a crooked smile. "I wish the Code did not designate only one student per master, but it does. Otherwise, I'd have you both."

The knight paused and took a deep breath. "Mace Windu, would you honor me by becoming my padawan learner?"

Qui-Gon's heart stopped and then began to beat again. The knight had chosen Mace. He smiled wanly as his friend's brown eyes enlarged in surprise and then his face broke into a huge smile. "I would be honored, sir!" Mace exclaimed with boyish enthusiasm. "Qui-Gon, he chose me!" Mace turned to his friend as if needing confirmation.

"Mace will make an excellent padawan to you, sir." Qui-Gon bowed to the knight out of respect for his decision, beating down the disappointment ruthlessly. Mace deserved it. Besides, Qui-Gon still had several more months and many more knights to impress. All was not lost.

"I know he will," agreed the knight. "I am sorry, Qui-Gon." Qui-Gon gave a weak smile as his friend dashed away with his new master.

* * *

"Hurt you are, Qui-Gon?" Master Yoda's voice sliced through the garden's peacefulness at the late evening hour. Qui-Gon had climbed one of the trees and was meditating there on what he did wrong in trying to get the knight's attention.

"No, Master. Just trying to figure out what I did wrong. Was he displeased with me somehow? I mean, Mace is great and all, but I hoped..." His voice trailed away as he realized how petty he sounded.

He heard Yoda sigh below him. "Come down, if you please. Talk we must about disappointment." Qui-Gon clambered down, his blue eyes gazing at the wizened master before him. "Qui-Gon," Yoda began, settling himself in the grass, "not always clear the path we tread is. Follow it is all we can do. Great knight you will become, this I see in your future. When this happens, how this happens, know I do not. Know only that it will happen. Confidence you must continue to have in the Force. Know your strengths you do, work on weaknesses you must. Perfect you cannot be, but impress one who will take you as padawan you one day will. Rest assured of this."

"Can I be your padawan, Master Yoda?" Qui-Gon asked wistfully.

Yoda shook his head regretfully. "Too old for boy like you am I. Too energetic and full of life are you. Not able to keep up with you will I." Yoda tapped him lightly on the shoulder with his gimmer stick. "Soon, though, find you a master who is just right. You will see." Yoda stood up and patted the boy's head comfortingly. "You will see."

* * *

Obi-Wan Kenobi watched the tall knight enter from the spaceport level. He, Bant, Garen and Reeft were sneaking around where they knew they weren't supposed to be, watching the ships take off and land, dreaming to each other about the great knights they would someday make.

"Who's that?" he asked, pointing to the knight with the confident stride. The boys were ten and the girl was just turned nine, but they were the best of friends and knew each other well.

"Who? Oh, him?" Garen leaned forward so he could whisper suspensefully. "That's Qui-Gon Jinn."

All heads swiveled in the master's direction. A small chorus of awed oohs and aahs erupted from them. Every student had heard of Qui-Gon Jinn. He was one of the best knights in the Order, but his last padawan had been lost somehow recently. Rumors abounded and speculation was rampant but no one knew the truth.

"I heard his padawan was killed in battle," murmured Reeft around a cracker he'd just stuffed in his mouth. "He's vowed never to take another padawan."

"I heard that his padawan turned to the Dark Side!" gossiped Garen and all of them gasped, scandalized by the very thought. To turn to the Dark Side when one was being trained by a great man like Qui-Gon Jinn! It was more than any of them could fathom.

"I wonder what really happened?" asked Bant and then she giggled. "Why so interested, Obi-Wan?" She nudged him teasingly.

"Yeah, you going to ask to be his padawan?" ribbed Garen with a huge grin.

Obi-Wan gave a dry smile. "Nah, he wouldn't take me. I'm Oafy-Wan."

Bant's eyes filled with tears. "Bruck was so mean to call you that! We should all gang up on him and pull out his hair!"

"Feisty for a fish, ain't she?" teased Garen. Reeft smiled around another cracker. Bant wrinkled her nose at them both.

"Why would a knight like Qui-Gon Jinn want a clumsy kid like me?" Obi-Wan said morosely, not buoyed by his friends' banter.

"Because you're still a much better choice than Bruck," Garen informed his friend with some authority. "Bruck snores like a freight train and his feet smell."

"Master Jinn wouldn't take me," Reeft interjected. His friends turned to him with questioning looks. "He doesn't look like he leaves enough food. He's huge!"

The group dissolved into laughter and began dreaming again.

* * *

Yoda watched as Qui-Gon looked neither right nor left as he walked down the hall. The master ignored the bows of students, especially one boy who stepped forward slightly to gain more attention. Qui-Gon did not even give him a passing glance.

Yoda sighed. If only he could get his claws around Xanatos' throat, turning to the Dark Side to rid the galaxies of that menace would be a price Yoda would almost pay.

Almost.

"Acknowledge them you should, Qui-Gon," Yoda called out as Qui-Gon approached.

"Who?" Qui-Gon frowned heavily at the small green master.

Yoda gestured behind Qui-Gon, who turned and looked at the milling students waiting for their next class. "Future padawan there might be. Pass by without second glance, might never see again."

"I don't want, nor do I need, another padawan. Two was enough. One was enough, but I was too foolish and full of pride to see that." Qui-Gon's expression turned mutinous.

Yoda banged his gimmer stick against the tiled floor in exasperation. "Foolish you are only if close yourself you do. Keep heart and head open, find out not all like Xanatos." Qui-Gon stared mulishly at Yoda until the gnome-like master gave up. "Stubborn you are, Qui-Gon Jinn. Beat you more often your master should have." Qui-Gon raised an eyebrow at that comment.

"The Council summoned me?" Qui-Gon asked finally.

"Yes, come. Crisis on Yavin Four there is. Requested you specifically they did. Sent Mace Windu into boughs it did. Not happy with you is he. Why, wonders me?" Yoda shot Qui-Gon a glance.

Qui-Gon gave a rueful smile. "Mace finds Yavin's government fascinating and pitches a fit everytime he doesn't get to go and view it in action first hand. No doubt he wanted the assignment."

"Better things has he to worry about," Yoda observed. "Make him senior councilmember we will this evening. Decided it was this morning."

Qui-Gon was pleased at the announcement. "He will be an excellent choice, my master."

Yoda nodded. "I know. Too bad understand your own worth, you do not, but recognize worth of your friend you do."

Qui-Gon's mouth turned down into a frown again and Yoda banged him in the kneecap with his gimmer stick. "Stop walking." Qui-Gon halted, glaring down. "Turn and look at students you will." Qui-Gon did as he was ordered. "See out there the great knight you will teach. Rocky times ahead, Qui-Gon, but out there is your salvation. Remember that." Yoda grunted as he continued walking, leaving Qui-Gon staring out among the crowd of children rushing here and there.

* * *

"I will train Anakin. Without the approval of Council if I must." Obi-Wan's words rang through the room and Yoda tried to ignore their patently stubborn tone.

"Qui-Gon's defiance I sense in you." He banged his gimmer stick on the floor in irritation. "Need that you do not."

* * *

Anakin stared in awed fascination at the room. It was simple in it's design and not opulent like his rooms on Naboo, but it was still better than anything he'd ever had before on Tattooine. "We'll live here?" he asked his master, turning around in obvious delight.

Obi-Wan Kenobi raised an eyebrow at his new apprentice's wonder. "Well, yes, unless you'd rather live in a box under the bridge?"

Anakin flushed. "I meant no disrespect," the boy began.

Obi-Wan grinned. "I was teasing, Anakin."

"Call me Ani. Everyone does." Anakin strolled around the room. "Is this where you and Qui-Gon lived?" he asked conversationally.

Obi-Wan shook his head. "No, that was in a different part of the Temple. Qui-Gon was a master when he took me as his padawan so he already had quarters in the masters' wing. I'm still just a knight, though I am your master. We stay in the knights' building."

Anakin blinked in confusion and nodded. "Oh. Sure."

Obi-Wan knelt down in front of the boy and cleared his throat awkwardly. "Ani, I know we didn't get off on the right foot and everything, but I want you to know I'm honored to train you. If Qui-Gon thought you were worth fighting the Council for, you must be very special indeed. I hope I can do the job properly."

Anakin waved away Obi-Wan's doubts with a dismissive hand. "Oh, I'm sure you'll do fine. Besides, all I want to do is become a Jedi knight. With you training me, I'm sure to be something even better!" Anakin's blue eyes shone with excitement at the prospect and Obi-Wan could feel the boy's enthusiasm catching on.

"I'm sure you will," agreed Obi-Wan.

* * *

Anakin sat dejectedly in front of the Council chambers, awaiting his turn to have audience with the High Council. He'd tried talking to his master, but Master Obi-Wan gave him a confused or odd look and then told him he was imagining things.

"Padawan Skywalker?" Adi Gallia stood in the doorway. "Please come in."

Anakin entered somewhat trepidaciously and then stood in the center of the room, wondering if this was such a good idea after all. "How may we help you, Padawan Skywalker?" Mace Windu's features were closed yet curious. Anakin knew some of the Councilmembers were still unsure of Anakin's worth to the Order.

"I'm worried," the thirteen year old confessed. "I wish to ask questions of the Council that I do not feel I can ask my master."

This caused some unrest and Anakin watched as both of Yoda's green ears lifted in interest. "Ask them, you may."

Anakin nodded and took a deep breath. "Let me explain first and then I'll ask. For the past few months I've been hearing Master Qui-Gon's voice. Some people say that those lost to us can visit us through the Force. I look around when I hear his voice but I don't see him or feel him anywhere." Anakin looked down in a rather embarrassed fashion.

"Could you understand the words, Padawan?" asked Depa Billaba, her jeweled brow creasing in consternation at this revelation.

Anakin shook his head. "No, Master. After awhile I realized that maybe he was talking with Master Obi-Wan." The Council stared at him expectantly. "I was wondering why he doesn't speak with me? And why Master Obi-Wan doesn't tell me about it even when I question him?"

The Council as one continued to stare at the boy and Anakin began to grow nervous. Were they going to tell him he was imagining things too? He had heard Qui-Gon's voice though! He knew it!

"Padawan Skywalker, if Obi-Wan has been visited by Force manifestations of Qui-Gon, we should have been informed. Despite your hurt confusion, we don't have the answers you obviously seek." Mace Windu held up a hand to stay Anakin's rush of words. "We will get them for you, however, rest assured of that. We will call you back to Council when we discover what is going on."

Obi-Wan stood proud before the Council, wondering why he'd been called with Anakin specifically left out. It bothered Obi-Wan that perhaps the Council either still did not want him training Anakin or that they found fault in his training of the boy so far.

"Obi-Wan," Windu began with a small smile. "Have you been talking to Qui-Gon?"

Obi-Wan blinked. "I beg your pardon, my master?" he asked in bewilderment.

"Have you been visited by a Force manifestation of Qui-Gon and not informed the Council?" elaborated Billaba.

Obi-Wan stood there stupidly, not sure how to answer such a ridiculous question. "Um, no, my masters. Why do you ask?"

"Anakin has confessed that he has heard Qui-Gon's voice and believes that you are in contact with Qui-Gon within the Force." Even Piell's features had a decidedly disapproving look to them.

"No, my masters, I do not know..." Obi-Wan's voice trailed off. Qui-Gon's voice? "He's been overhearing Qui-Gon's audioplaybacks. Qui-Gon made recorded transcripts of my lessons as his padawan, notes to remind him of things to teach me or test me on. I've been using them when I get snagged in training Anakin." Obi-Wan was suddenly worried. "Is this a problem, my masters?"

The Council seemed to deflate as one in relief. "No, Obi-Wan," smiled Mace in relief. "We weren't looking forward to reprimanding you, that's all. And yes, that's a very good idea actually."

Obi-Wan relaxed, relieved as well. "I had not thought of Anakin overhearing it when he questioned me. I thought it was just an overactive teenage mind at work. It never occurred to me until you said something, my masters."

"You might advise Anakin what you are about then, young knight," said Ki-Adi-Mundi with a twinkle in his eyes. "The boy was most upset that Qui-Gon would visit you and not visit him."

Obi-Wan grimaced and bowed. "I will rectify this immediately, my masters. May the Force be with you."

* * *

"Ani, come." Obi-Wan motioned the boy to him by the desk. "You do not hear me talking to Qui-Gon, but you do hear Qui-Gon talking to me." Obi-Wan turned on the playback and Qui-Gon's holographic form shimmered into view. Anakin gaped.

"He lacks confidence at times but that can be easily rectified, I should think, with strong meditation and maybe the more challenging katas. If I build up that confidence by making him overcome challenges, he'll be stronger for it. So let's see, katas and maybe an hour meditation when rising in the morning and before sleeping in the evening. Probably wouldn't hurt me either."

"Qui-Gon recorded that when I was fourteen. You've advanced past what I was at your age, Ani, so I needed help. I figured that since Qui-Gon was the one who brought you to us, it was only fair he had some hand in your training." Obi-Wan gave a crooked smile to his padawan. "Is that all right?"

"Yes, Master," Anakin said with a twinkle in his eyes. "To be trained by the two finest knights in the order is a padawan's dream come true!"

* * *

"JUMP!" Luke Skywalker jumped and bashed his head against a tree limb, falling to the ground stunned. The heavy sigh from behind him caused him to sigh as well. "Clumsy you are. More confident in body and soul you must be."

Luke was beginning to wonder if anything pleased the little green gnome. "Yes, Master," he said as he stood up carefully, trying to ease his swimming head with the lessons Ben Kenobi had given him briefly about healing.

"Good you are, but not good enough, I think." The small stick the Jedi master used as a cane banged against the log he was standing on. "Mother not so weak minded. Father not so weak minded. Why weak minded son are you?"

Luke stared at Master Yoda for a long moment. "You knew my mother and my father both?" he asked, ignoring the weak-minded part. He'd already learned that the taunts were meant to urge him to greater skills, to prove to Yoda and to himself that he wasn't what the taunts implied. It was an obvious psychological trick but one Luke couldn't help but respond to.

"Beautiful your mother was," nodded Yoda, his ears drooping as low as his eyelids. "Strong was your father. Confidence not what they lacked. Must be who raised you." Yoda hopped from his perch and painfully hobbled his way back to his small hut.

"What does that mean?" Luke scrambled ahead and stood in the master's way.

Yoda looked up with a scornful gaze. "Not all self determined by bloodline, young Skywalker. Molded by those around us we are. Shape us they do, with their faults as well as strengths. Whine you do, constantly. Can't do, can't do, too hard, too hard! Make excuses all the time! Not from father comes this! Not from mother comes this! From those who raised you it must. Defeat not always come at the hands of the enemy. Sometimes defeat comes at the hands of loved ones. Push aside doubts and do what your heart tells you. Ignore head, mind feelings." Yoda looked around him pensively while Luke just stared down at the aged Jedi master.

"Yes, Master. I see what you mean." Luke nodded slowly. "I'll try it again."

"What you will try again?" Yoda hobbled over and watched Luke lift several rocks using the Force as his ally and smiled to himself as they were stacked neatly together. "Build me a wall you will then, young Skywalker?"

"Don't push it, my master." Luke didn't open his eyes but his huge grin gave away his mirth.

"Defiant you are, just like Obi-Wan, just like your father, just like..." Yoda's voice trailed away and he looked skyward. "Just like a Jedi knight."

Luke's eyes opened. "Will I ever be a Jedi knight, Master Yoda? I want to save the Jedi, resurrect the Order to defeat the Empire."

"Hard to see the future is, just as hard to see is the dark side. Sometimes the future can be revealed, sometimes remains a mystery it does." Yoda shook his gimmer stick at the young man in warning. "Always mindful you must be, both of here and now and future. Follow the Force. Guide you it will down the path you must tread."

A few hours later around a bowl Yoda's really hideous-looking but surprisingly tasty stew, Luke gazed thoughtfully at the wizened master. "You've been a Jedi all your life?"

"Taken as padawan learner to great knight when very very young was I," confirmed Yoda around a burp. "Pardon me."

Luke smiled at the sight of a great Jedi master belching from a good meal. "What's a padawan?"

"What you are." Yoda didn't seem to want to elaborate.

"I don't understand," Luke nudged.

"Padawan learner you are to me and to Obi-Wan. Masters we are, apprentice you are to us. Teach you we do the ways of the Jedi. Maybe one day, take padawan yourself? Hmmm? Teach the ways of the Jedi to a student one on one, as all Jedi have learned for thousands of years. Yes?" Yoda held out his bowl for another small helping.

"A master and an apprentice." Luke ladled another spoonful into the small bowl. "So students are taken as padawan learners then graduate to become knights. They then take their own apprentices?"

"Yes. Way it has always been," Yoda nodded.

"I wish I could have seen the Temple," Luke said softly. "It must have been wonderful."

Yoda's eyes dimmed at the memories. "Peaceful it was. Place of safety and home for the Jedi it was. Only place on Coruscant to find trees, rivers, lakes and quiet. Miss it I do, but dwell on the past I must not. Look to future all I can do now."

"If the rebels win, Master Yoda, and I live?" Yoda looked up at the hesitant words. "I'll try and rebuild the temple." Yoda continued to look at him.

"Worry about that now you must not. Become Jedi first you must." Luke turned away to put the stew pot in water to soak before cleaning it. "Jedi you will become with training," Yoda murmured to himself. He looked up, a ghost of a smile on his face since Luke was not watching. "Padawan."


End file.
